[4] Although he was a plain unlettered peasant, cultivating the same farm which his ancestors had occupied for ages, a natural predilection for literary pursuits induced him to take up the task of recording the lives of the martyrs and confessors of Scotland.

[5] His family home at Lochgoin Farm was a noted refuge for Covenanters, and was subject to several searches by government soldiers.

Several relics were kept in what has become a small museum, and in 1896 a stone obelisk was erected nearby as a monument "in memory of John Howie, author of the Scots Worthies".

[6] Howie wrote Lives of the Protestant worthies of Scotland from Patrick Hamilton, the first martyr, under the title of Biographia Scoticana, first published in 1775.

William Henderson Carslaw revised Howie's text and published it, with illustrations and notes, and a short biographical introduction; and in 1876 a further illustrated edition appeared, with biographical notice compiled from statements made by Howie's relatives, and an introductory essay by Dr. Robert Buchanan.